In a major setback to the Commissionerate police, the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court of Cuttack Sadar on Thursday allowed arrested Cuttack City Congress president Muhammad Moqim and 16 other party leaders, including three Corporators, to go on bail on personal recognizance (PR) bond. As per the PR bail conditions, they shall appear at all required court hearings.
The leaders were arrested by the police in a late night swoop at different places on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in ransacking a city police station on Tuesday. Alleging vendetta politics, the Congress workers had stormed into the Purighat police station in protest against the arrest of a party worker, who had actively participated in Monday’s ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by the party. While producing the arrested leaders before the court on Thursday, the prosecution, besides referring to the recent case registered against Moqim, had also referred to four other old cases pending against him since 2012.
Judicial Magistrate Sitikantha Pradhan, however, did not hear the old cases and decided to adjudicate only the one relating to the Purighat PS case and allowed the bail applications of all. Reacting after the court verdict, Moqim told reporters that the police had acted against him in a “vindictive” manner to satisfy their political bosses. “In order to divert the attention of the people from the tirade launched by expelled BJD leader Damodar Rout against the Government, police were trying to stage a drama,” Moqim said, adding that he had faith in the judiciary.
The people of the city, disapprove the recent actions of the police and are a worried lot about the law and order of the city ahead of the Puja season. “While the city police are already on the back foot and fighting a losing battle against the lawyers, opening of another confrontation against a reviving opposite political party and arresting a senior leader of the party was uncalled for at this hour,” opine the intelligentsia.